


The Wizard's Oath

by wintercreek



Category: Young Wizards - Diane Duane
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-21
Updated: 2010-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-13 22:30:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/142419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintercreek/pseuds/wintercreek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nita, Kit, and the next Oath and grand adventure.</p><p><strong>The Wizard's Oath:</strong><br/>In Life's name and for Life's sake, I assert that I will employ the Art which is its gift in Life's service alone, rejecting all other usages. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; and I will change no object or creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, in the practice of my Art, I will put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is right to do so -- till Universe's end.</p><p>(Diane Duane)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wizard's Oath

**Author's Note:**

  * For [astraev](https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraev/gifts).



> Thanks to were_duck and Starlady for betaing!

Nita looks up at Kit with panic in her eyes. "Kit! I can't do this. I'm not ready!"

"Yeah, you can, Neets." He squeezes her hand. "You're gonna be awesome. We're gonna be awesome."

"It's totally unfair that I'm doing all the work and–" She breaks off as a contraction seizes her. "–all the freaking out. You are slacking on your spousal duties."

Kit mock salutes her with his free hand. "I'll get right on that," he tells her.

"Wise guy," she mutters. And then she's shifted from transition to pushing, and there's no more banter.

Later, Kit hopes Nita can see his hands shaking a little as he accepts their daughter from the midwife and brings her over to lay on his wife's chest. "What do you want to call her? Still like the name we picked out?"

Nita opens weary eyes and murmurs, "Hey, baby girl." She looks up at Kit and says, "I like the name we picked out. 'In Life's name and for Life's sake...'" She smooths a hand over the baby's tiny skull. The lactation consultant's coming over to help Nita with positioning, so Kit excuses himself and goes to fill out paperwork saying that their daughter's name is Zoey Elizabeth Callahan Rodriguez. Elizabeth for Nita's mom, whom Zoey will never know, and Zoey because it means Life, which is everything.

* * *

Kit has a panic attack of his own when they check out of the hospital. Neets is clearly a natural at this parenting stuff: for all that she worries about getting Zoey to latch, she holds her without fear. He, meanwhile, is absolutely terrified that he'll drop her. He can only imagine how much harder this will get as Zoey grows and becomes squirmier. Buckling the car seat in is only manageable because of his practice.

The car is silent as they drive home, Kit white-knuckled on the steering wheel, Nita peering into the back seat every two blocks, Zoey evidently out cold. They sit in the car in the parking garage until Nita turns to Kit and says, "Yes." She must have heard him thinking, _Are you as scared as I am?_

Then Zoey cries, and through the power of the Speech they both understand it as "Coooooooooooooold!! Hungry!"

Nita grins, looking as relieved as Kit feels that their daughter can get her basic needs across. "Time to guard some growth," she says.

* * *

The call comes in before they're off their wizardly parental leave, which means they're the only ones who can handle it. Nita's got Zoey in a sling across her chest. It's surreal to be writing a third name into their working, to see the pieces of themselves spilling over into this new person.

Kit starts to ask if Nita's sure about bringing Zoey along; she hears the echo of his thought and fills his mind with an image of Angelina Pellegrino, one hand on her baby and the other at the metaphorical tiller of the earth. "Okay, okay, I gotcha," he says.

Thankfully, it's an on-world intervention in Central Park. The trees near the reservoir are reporting something hinky in the water, and Nita's still good with plants. Kit talks to the water for a while, and when they compare notes they're able to find the waste someone carelessly dumped. It's only a few days old, and the spell to clean it up isn't unduly taxing. Zoey is silent and wide-eyed as they speak the Speech, and the wizardry still catches them up like always, the universe pressing close with fascination. It is, frankly, as exhilarating as sex, in its own way.

They're too tired to teleport home afterwards, though, so Zoey has her first subway ride. Nita slumps towards Kit's shoulder, her body curled protectively around Zoey, and Kit throws an arm around both of them. It's good to know that they can carry on the fight and be parents, preserving what grows well in its own way and showing Zoey the world.

* * *

"Sshhh, Zoey, shhh. C'mon, little one, tell me what's wrong so I can fix it," Kit whispers.

Zoey keeps crying, "Unhaaaaaaaaaaaaaappy, unhappy," with no explanation. Kit bounces her a little and thinks about running the dryer to see if the noise and vibration can soothe her. It's not very courteous to their neighbors, at this time of night, but neither is a miserable baby.

"Little one, your mama needs her rest. Please, are you hungry? Is something too tight?" He looks her over and can't find anything obviously wrong. Time to offer a bottle, then.

Nita's run down and exhausted after two weeks of mysterious and upsetting dreams. When she slept, which was increasingly seldom, she woke thrashing and saying, in a voice of toneless dread, "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold." She developed a haunted, hunted look, and Kit took three weeks off to be home for whatever she and Zoey might need.

Yesterday they finally, _finally_ figured it out: it's not someone quoting Yeats, but the kernel for New York City that has been trying to reach Nita, begging for readjustment to accommodate a geologic shift in the plates beneath them. Nita dove into the grueling work and returned home to fall into the first sound sleep she's had since the dreams began. Kit wants desperately not to wake her now.

He warms Zoey's bottle, checks the temperature on his inner arm, and waits to see if she's hungry. She drinks a little, burps, and cries again, half-heartedly this time. Kit can't tell if she's calming down or just wearing herself out.

Finally he drops into the maple rocking chair in the corner, hoping to calm Zoey without waking the downstairs neighbors. "Shh, shhh, mama's sleeping. I've been so worried for her, you know?" he tells Zoey. "A wizard promises to put aside fear for courage and death for life, and I tried to be brave for her, but I was scared. I don't know what we'd do without her, you and I."

Zoey's quieting, her eyes focusing on Kit's face and her little brow furrowing. He knows she's much too young to follow the detail of everything he's saying, even in the Speech, but she's quick to pick up the broad outlines. She turns her face into his chest. It's not clear who she's trying to comfort. Kit smiles and rubs a hand along her back. "It's okay, little one. She did good work, like she always does, and everything's okay now."

* * *

Kit wakes in the night to an emptiness on Nita's side of the bed and immediately thinks, _Oh shit, I missed my turn._ Still, he can't hear Zoey wailing so maybe Nita's up for some other reason. Or maybe she's fallen asleep in the rocking chair again.

He creeps quietly down the hall and sees Zoey's door ajar, the space within lit with the golden glow of the nightlight. Nita's holding Zoey, her back to the door. They're swaying slowly and Nita's singing, "And I'm gonna love you, like nobody loves you."

The door frame is there and solid under Kit's shoulder when he feels the sudden need to lean on something, overwhelmed by the depth of his love for this woman and this little girl. Some days it's very clear that his oath isn't the only thing that will last 'til universe's end.


End file.
